HCHS Class of 2016 Hunger Games
by HCHS Class of 2016 HungerGames
Summary: A Hunger Games where he tributes are the Harrison County High School class of 2016.
1. The Line-Up

District 1: Jesse Klapheke & Autumn Stanfield

District 2: Ross Smith & Amelia Bolin

District 3: Jared Thomas & Erin Cheek

District 4: Conner Hutchison & Madison Philpott

District 5: Corey Moore & Millie Wigglesworth

District 6: Josh Graves & Rachel Jackson

District 7: Konor McKahan & Sydney Motell

District 8: Brian Davis & Nicole True

District 9: Nathan Lopez & Amberlyn Schjoll

District 10: Foster Burden & Gracie Furnish

District 11: Zach Day & Sarabeth Sowder

District 12: Brady Slade & Claire Morgan-Sanders


	2. Day 1

Day 1

**Amelia**

The young District 2 girl holds her breath as her silver platform is lifted into the arena. No matter how determined everyone she knows back at home is that she will come out alive and victorious, there is still room for doubt to creep its way in. She once again examines her black canvas pants, black jacket, black cotton t-shirt, and black combat boot. She can tell the Gamemakers must have been a fan of basic color schemes. The platform surfaces and Amelia looks around, immediately surveying her surroundings. This year's arena looks different from any other she has seen before. It looks to be divided into four quadrant-like areas. The four quadrants meet at the golden cornucopia. All of the quadrants appear to be forests. However, the one her platform sits on is covered in powdery white snow. The one to her left has leaves covering the ground and the trees that are all varying shades of red, orange, and yellow. The quadrant to her left is full of flowers and new budding trees. Finally, the field across from her looks to be bright and vibrant; everything is covered in healthy looking greenery. It clicks in her mind that the four quadrants represent the four seasons. Despite her nervousness, she smirks at the Gamemakers creativity.

**Brian**

After taking in his surroundings, Brian quickly turns his head to examine his opponents. To the immediate right of him is the brunette girl from District 5. He can't remember her name or whether or not she stood out during training, so she doesn't pose a threat to the District 8 boy. To his left is the quick and cunning boy from 2. The fact that he is from a career district doesn't intimidate Brian. However, the fact that he is devastatingly dangerous with a knife does. Brian looks for his district partner, but Nikki is nowhere to be seen. Her platform must be behind the cornucopia, out of his line of sight. Suddenly, he hears the legendary voice of Claudius Templesmith, "_Ladies and gentlemen, let the 66th Hunger Games begin!"_ In sixty seconds, Brian must decide whether or not he will run to the Cornucopia to fight for supplies or run into one of the four forests and begin his time in the Hunger Games with a defensive play. He sees that not too far in front of him is what looks like a small hatchet and some metal wire. That could be useful during the early stages of the games. He could easily grab the supplies and immediately backtrack into the autumn toned forest behind him. Without warning, as Brian hadn't thought to keep count of the seconds passing, the deafening sound of the gong rings out. His feet leave the platform immediately. Any fear or dread he held during the days leading up to the games is now replaced with adrenaline and excitement. Brian runs toward the cornucopia.

**Amberlyn**

Digging her fingernails into the palm of her hands so forcefully it hurts, Amberlyn sprints towards the small hatchet and the wire she saw. Grimly, she notices the District 8 boy, who stood two platforms down from her just seconds before, is heading for the same prize. Amberlyn, who would normally avoid the potentially life threatening situation and run into one of the four forests around her, grits her teeth and quickens her pace towards the items, hoping to reach them before 8. His hands have just landed on the hatchet when Amberlyn slams into him, using her whole body to knock him away from the items she desperately desires. Surprised by the sudden force, the wind is knocked out of Brian. Losing his footing, he falls to the ground. Amberlyn grabs the hatchet and the wire. She holds hatchet tightly and her eyes meet Brian's. The thought of killing him does flicker through her mind, It would be extremely easy. One, maybe two, quick swipes with the hatchet and Brian would be dead, or incapacitated enough so that he would no longer pose a threat. However, she lowers the hatchet. "You owe me," Amberlyn says, turning on her heels and heading to the vibrantly red, brown, and yellow forest.

**Zach**

Gripping the knife he just retrieved from the farther edges of the cornucopia, Zach grins happily at the fact he escaped the bloodbath unscathed. Digging his heels hard into the earth beneath his feet, he runs quickly into the borders of the flower-laden spring area of the arena. Despite how happy he is at the fact that he managed to retrieve a weapon this early in the games, he still has the nagging thought of his district partner. Sarabeth is cunning and quick on her feet, sure, but that doesn't prevent the worry he has. After she denied his offer to form an alliance, he wondered if she was going to give up, but after seeing her try to absorb as much skills as she could during training, he began to believe she could be a strong contender. Zach's thought of his district partner vanishes when he is slammed to the ground by an unseen force. The knife almost slips from his grasp, but he clenches it hard, and it remains in his hand.

He cranes his neck to see who his unknown assailant is. He sees a small statured blonde haired boy and recognizes him as the the tribute from District 5, Corey. He remembers how fast on his feet he was during training, but as for physical strength, Zach knew the attacker wasn't a threat. Corey lifts what looks to be a hammer above his head, aiming to take a swing at Zach, but the District 11 boy rolls out of the way and jumps back onto his feet. He steps forward, plunging the knife forward, but Corey deflects if with the hammer, knocking the blade out of Zach's hand. Realizing the District 5 boy is becoming more of a danger than he had originally thought, Zach dives at his legs and knocks him to the ground. Corey shouts out in surprise as Zach wrenches the hammer from his hand. Quickly and without a second thought, he dispatches the boy from 5 with two swings of the hammer. Grabbing the dropped knife, he begins to run deeper into the forest, a new weapon at his disposal and his first kill under his belt.

**Conner**

Viciously, Conner swings at the girl from 11 with his newly found sword, but she jumps away from the steel just in time. He watches as she shoulders her canvas backpack and pushes off of the cornucopia with her hand and propels herself away from the thick of the combat. He considers chasing after her, but realizes that the need for more supplies was greater. He turns around, seeing two more competitors very close to him. He runs for them, quickly finishing the girl and boy from 10 with only a few swipes of his sword. When he finishes them, he wraps the sword sheath around his waist and shoves the sword inside of it. He grabs a backpack and unzips it, shoving food and small weapons inside of it as fast as he can. He's grabbing a loaf of bread when he hears the District 1 girl behind him. "Where do you think you're going with that?" Conner turns and sees Autumn holding a knife in each hand, glaring at him threateningly. He zips the backpack closed and slings it over his shoulders, unsheathing his sword.

"Away from here," Conner answers stiffly.

"You're not staying with the Careers?" asks his district partner, Madison, as she runs up beside Autumn, a spear in hand. She looks saddened at the thought of not having Conner with her during the games.

"No. No, I'm not." Conner starts to run past the couple, but Autumn reaches up to thrust one of her knives at him.

"Don't," Madison commands, pulling Autumn's arm down, preventing her from harming the boy. Conner nods at Madison and she nods in return, watching sadly as he turns to run off into the winter forest. Conner only turns around long enough to see Autumn slashing at the boy and girl from 6 with her knives. He sheaths his sword again and starts treading lightly as he first steps onto the snow covered ground. As he walks deeper into the forest, he intricately weaves circles and curves with his footprints. He backtracks, changes directions, and then backtracks again to make sure that no one will follow him through the snow.

**Erin**

Sitting on the branches of a tree she just climbed, Erin nervously bites her fingernails. As her district partner and she agreed, Erin ran directly behind her into the forest full of blooming and budding flowers, and Jared ran for the cornucopia, hoping to grab a few supplies. He promised to find Erin after he obtained some food or hopefully weapons, but Erin is nervous that he won't come back. Even if he did make it out of the bloodbath alive, who's to say that he would find her in this unknown land? Jared's extremely fast. Erin knows he'd be able to outrun most of the Career tributes, but if he somehow got into close ranged combat, she's not sure how he would manage against them. She's nervously running her fingers through her hair when she hears a noise. It's just a slight rustle, but it is directly below her. Hoping to see Jared, Erin eagerly pokes her head out from behind the leaves of the tree, but immediately gasps. "Hey there," taunts the boy from 12.

"Go away," Erin growls through clenched teeth.

"Oh, you're so scary!" laughs the boy. Erin just can't place his name.

"I'm not coming down, so unless you can climb a tree, just go."

"Actually, I don't need to be able to climb up to you. I'm going to bring you down." Smirking, the boy pulls out something he had been hiding behind his back: a silver bow and a quiver of arrows. Erin looks around her, searching desperately for an escape route. "You're not going to be able to think your way out of this one, 3," taunts 12 with a wink. He pulls an arrow out of the quiver and clumsily notches it on the bowstring. Erin can tell he cannot wield a bow skillfully, but considering that she is only a mere fifteen up, he won't need skill to make a deadly shot. He pulls the string back, but then Erin hears another rustle and a slight _thunk_ from behind Brady. He stops pulling the string back, drops the bow, and falls heavily on the ground, revealing a knife protruding from his back and Jared standing behind him looking terrified.

"Jared!" Erin squeals, quickly climbing down from the tree to hug her district partner. He doesn't hug back, only continues to stare at the body at his feet. Erin figured this would happen. Jared is too caring, to sympathetic. Being faced with the situation of killing someone could very well have been too much for him. Erin inhales deeply and grits her teeth. She bends down to pry the bow and quiver out of 12's dead hands. She shoulders them both and looks at Jared's possessions: a knife and a canvas knapsack, almost like a purse. She pulls the knapsack out of his hand and opens it, finding another knife and three packs of beef jerky. She lays the items on the ground and snaps in front of her district partners face. "Jared." He is unresponsive. "Jared," she says a tad louder, this time tapping him lightly on the cheek with her hand. He turns to look at her.

"Did I do that?" he asks, pointing at the fallen competitor.

"Yes, you did, but right now, we have to move." She hands Jared the knapsack, grabs his wrist and begins to lead him further into the forest.

**Claire**

The District 12 girl has been walking for hours at least. Too scared to fight for supplies at the cornucopia, she ran as fast as she could into the autumn forest that had been behind her. She sprinted at first, hoping to put as much distance as she could between herself and the bloodbath. After a few hours of jogging however, she began to walk at a quick pace, but soon, even that became a casual stroll. The cannons listing how many died during the bloodbath sounded off a while ago, but she hadn't bothered to count them, though. She stays alert as she continuously examines her surroundings, looking for enemies or natural forms of food and water. So far, she's come up with nothing but fallen leaves. She had studied about plant life as much as she could during training, hoping to learn how to easily distinguish between deadly and edible. Claire sees a dark green vine growing up one of the trees. She runs to it, hoping to find out its species. She's just about to pull off one of the lighter colored green leaves when she hears a rustling behind her. She turns quickly, adrenaline already pumping. She sees something -or someone- flee behind a nearby tree. "Come out. Now," Claire commands, balling her hands into fists and taking a fighting stance.

"I'm not going to hurt you," says a female voice as the girl from 11, Claire remembers her as Amberlyn, comes from out behind the tree. Her hands are up in the air, a small hatchet in one and a coil of wire in the other.

"Well, what do you want if you're not going to hurt me?" snarls Claire.

"I saw you at training. You're good with traps." Amberlyn throws the coil at Claire's feet. "I'm good at fighting." She waves the hatchet around slightly to be sure that Claire sees it.

"What are you suggesting?"

"I am suggesting... that we team up," says Amberlyn slowly.

"Team up?" Claire asks in disbelief.

"We stick together and battle it out. We can keep each other alive, and we'll be stronger as a pair, and you know we would."

"Alliances never last. There can only be one winner."

"When we make it to top 5, we split up and go our own ways. If we meet up again after that, we're both fair game. How does that sounds?" Admittedly, the offer is tempting to Claire.

"Why me?" she asks. There are several other tributes in the games that would be twice as useful as Claire. The only thing she has any skill in is laying traps and, as of recently, identifying plants.

"I need food. I can't survive in here without it, and I can't hunt whatsoever. You can lay traps for animals and find plants for food, I know you can. That's what I need."

"You're using me as a food source?" Claire scoffs.

"It's a better deal than the Careers would offer," Amberlyn deadpans. Claire frowns, staring at the other girl.

"Fine. Allies it is then." She holds out her hand, and Amberlyn shakes it, making the two officially a team.

**Jesse**

Sitting by the cornucopia with the other Careers, Jesse picks at his fingernails with the tip of his hunting knife, gnawing on a piece of jerky he had found in a backpack. He looks over to see Autumn, unsurprisingly, flirting with another competitor. "You're so good with a sword," she giggles to the boy from 2. He just brushes her off, though, continuing to speak with his district partner. The girl from 4, Madison, continues to sort through supplies, placing food, weapons, and survival gear all in three different piles. The sun has just went down and Jesse stares off into the sky, waiting for the faces of the fallen tributes to appear. Autumn trots over over, sitting down next to Jesse. "Hey, Boo!" she says happily, laying her knives down by her feet.

"I asked you not to call me that," says Jesse, annoyed.

"You are no fun," says Autumn with a roll of her eyes. Suddenly, the Capitol anthem blares, showing the seal of Panem projected into the night sky. Jesse stares intently. The seal fades and shows the first fatality: the boy from 5. That means that Conner and both tributes from 3, surprisingly, are still alive. Next is the girl from 5 and both tributes from 6. Next is both tributes from 10. Finally, the slideshow of deceased faces ends with the boy from 12. Seven tributes dead. Jesse can't believe the insanely low number. Never in his life has he seen such a small bloodbath. However, even though only seven tributes died, three districts are already gone completely. Crossing his arms, Jesse worries about what the Gamemakers will throw at them because of this boringly small bloodbath. Knowing he'll need his rest, Jesse closes his eyes and prepares for the worst.


	3. Day 2

Day 2

Konor

Konor opens his eyes quickly, jumping to his feet and looking around the summer forest. A nightmare had scared him awake. His dream consisted of the seven fallen tributes from the night before. They crawled out of the ground, rotten and decayed. The zombie tributes limped toward Konor as he tried to outrun them, but for some reason his legs wouldn't move. They managed to catch up to him, scratching and biting. He woke up just before the girl from 5 went to take a bite out of his neck. Konor exhales deeply in relief, examine the grey pinpricks of light that are emerging as the sun rises. Thankfully, he did not scream because of the horrid dream. The first thing he notices is that he's very thirsty. The second thing he notices is that it's _hot. _Konor is positive the temperature wasn't this high the day before. _The Gamemakers must have raised the temperature, _Konor thinks. He needs water, that is obvious. He doesn't remember seeing any water sources as he ran from the Cornucopia after retrieving his bow and arrows, but he does remember one thing: the winter area. Covered in snow, it would make for an endless water source. Konor remembers that the winter field was to the left of the summer field that he is currently in. He grabs his bow and throws his quiver across his shoulders, beginning to make his way in that direction.

As Konor continues to place one foot in front of the other, his lack of water begins to take a toll. He starts to find himself drifting in a completely different direction than he had been walking. His eyes blur often and he has to blink away the dryness. He doesn't know how long it will take for him to reach the winter area, but he hopes it is soon. He is not close to dying of dehydration by any means, but his thirst is extremely uncomfortable. He has to find water soon in case the Gamemakers throw something at him that would cause him to be stuck in one place. He won't survive long without some form hydration. Konor is wiping the sweat off of his forward when he hears a stick snap behind him. He turns around swiftly, searching for danger. He doesn't see another competitor, but hears the snapping sound once again. He turns and begins running as fast as he can away from the origin of the sound. His thirst prevents him from running as fast as he would like, but he tries his hardest. He weaves through trees, bushes, and other kinds of underbrush as quickly as possible. His legs begin to burn from the strain and he ducks his head, grits his teeth, and squints his eyes shut, forcing himself to press on. Suddenly, he feels himself slam against another object, though he doesn't fall to the ground. He opens his eyes and sees the boy from 9, Nathan, on the ground, gasping for air. "Whatever you're running from," begins 9, "so am I." Konor just stares at him. He doesn't seem hostile in the least, only scared. Konor hears an even larger snapping sound close behind him. Him and Nathan turn and find themselves staring down a huge and aggressive grizzly bear.

"I hope you have some weapons on you," Konor says, drawing his bow.

"Nothing that would help us." Nathan pulls out a pair of brass knuckles from his pockets and slides them onto his fingers. Konor rolls his eyes at the useless weapon and notches an arrow. He had seen pictures of grizzly bears before in textbooks, but this one was much larger and has bright red eyes. As he pulls the string back, the beast roars and begins to charge at the tributes. Konor releases the arrow, watching as it impales the bears left front leg. It winces, but continues charging. Konor quickly notches another arrow and fires, hitting its right shoulder. The creature visibly slows down, roars again, and keeps running. Konor notches his third arrow. This time, his hands are shaking from the fear of not stopping the bear. He exhales deeply, aims, and fires. The arrows silently flies through the air and lands directly into one of the bear's red eyes. The bear's running slows and becomes sloppy until the animal finally falls to the ground, no longer a threat.

"You're welcome for that one, 9," Konor laughs, walking over to retrieve his arrows from the dead animal.

"It's Nathan."

"I honestly don't care what your name is. Now go before you end up like the bear." Konor places the three arrows into his quiver, restoring the amount back to twelve.

"Well, how about this-"

"I am not teaming up with you," interrupts Konor.

"Why not?" demands Nathan.

"I don't need you," he answers simply.

"You need water." This grabs Konor's attention. "I know you do. The only water here is from the snow, and to get to the winter area is at least another day's walk. Trust me, I know."

"Well, then how are you going to help my water situation?"

"I got a backpack from the cornucopia," Nathan explains, sliding his backpack down his arm and showing it to Konor. "It came with a half gallon of water, and there's still a lot left. We can make it to the winter area together, fill up, and just stick together." Konor slides his bow on his shoulder, weighing the pros and cons. If he went with Nathan, he would have to deal with a potential threat of a dangerous tribute as long as they were together. However, if he doesn't, he could easily die of dehydration before making it to the winter field. Was it really as far away as Nathan said?

"At top seven, we split. Understand?" Nathan nods his head eagerly, reaching into his bag to hand Konor the much needed water.

Madison

Sifting through the food supplies, Madison looks for a bottle of water. For her, it is becoming increasingly difficult to stay at the cornucopia, the meeting place of the four seasonal areas. No matter where she sits, cold air from the winter area chills her, but if she sits in the summer area, it becomes much too hot to be comfortable. This has forced her to resort to sitting inside of the golden cornucopia, away from the array of temperatures. "Well, we have to do something!" she hears Amelia calls with an annoying tone from outside. Madison stands up, poking her head out to see what's going on.

"I'm saying we need to stay right here. It's safest!" Autumn answers in rebuttal.

"Yesterday's bloodbath was the smallest there's been in _years_," explains Ross. "There have been zero deaths today. What do you think a small bloodbath and a deahless day two makes? Bored Gamemakers. And if we have bored Gamemakers, that means natural disasters that are going to ruin your little 'stay put' strategy."

"He's right," agrees Madison, walking out of the cornucopia and next to her allies.

"We have to go somewhere. We have to kill somebody, or else something's going to happen to us," says Jesse.

"Well what do you suppose we do?" Autumn asks, aggravated.

"Let's just send out scouts," says Madison. They turn to her. "Why don't we just load about two people down with supplies and weapons, send them out in separate areas, and have them come back before sundown."

"Well, what happens if just one person isn't enough to take on what's out there?" Autumn crosses her arms defiantly as she says this.

"Oh, please," laughs Amelia, "Are you saying you can't take on some little kids from the outlying districts?"

"Conner's out there. What if we meet up with him?"

"Conner went into the winter area, just send the two to different quadrants and they'll be fine," answers Ross. Autumn's argument is becoming less and less valid.

"Well, who's going to go?" asks the District 1 girl.

"I think you should go just so we don't have to hear you complain," says Amelia with a roll of her eyes. Autumn draws her knives and steps closer to her.

"I would keep your mouth shut if I were you, 2." Amelia reaches for her short sword, but Madison steps between them.

"I'll go," she says. Madison can easily take on any of her enemies as long as she has a spear in her hand. However, she hasn't made a single kill yet. Would she be able to handle ending a life?.

"I'll go, too. Just to get away from you," adds Autumn, glaring at Amelia.

"So, it's settled?" asks Ross. "Madison, you go to the fall field, and Autumn, you go to the summer one." The two girls nod as they begin to fill a backpack with food and water. Madison grabs and spear and throws two knives in her backpack just to be safe. Autumn stows as many sharp objects as she can. It appears that she's packed more weapons than food. Amelia walks over to Madison, handing her an extra bottle of water.

"Be careful, okay?" she asks, appearing to be genuinely concerned. Since the training days, Madison and Amelia have formed a type of companionship. They share many common interests and have similar moral standings.

"Don't worry," Madison says. "I'll be back before sundown." The District 4 girl turns, nodding to Autumn before they begin walking for their respective areas. Madison grips her spear tightly as she walks into the forest full of red and orange leaves, afraid of what she may find.

Amberlyn

"I can't believe it worked!" squeals Amberlyn as Claire unties a fat rabbit from her tripwire trap.

"I told you it would," Claire answers, throwing the animal to Amberlyn. "Now, skin it." Amberlyn begins to work on the rabbit with her hatchet as Claire begins to re-coil the wire. The trap expert in training said that most people just leave their traps after they are used, but not many people know that the metal coil that Claire obtained is reusable as long as it doesn't snap or bend terribly during use. Amberlyn finishes skinning the rabbit in about ten minutes time. After she is finished, she lays it on the ground.

"Can we cook it now?" she asks.

"No, of course not," Claire tells her as if it is the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why not?"

"If we start a fire, the Careers or some other tribute will see it and track us down. Now, one or two of the other tributes, I'm not worried about. It's that whole career pack that scares me," Claire explains.

"Well, when can we cook it?"

"At night. No one will be able to see the fire from the smoke, and it'll be safe then."

"What do we do with it before then?" Amberlyn asks, pointing at the pile of cut up, bloody meat.

"You sure ask a lot of questions," Claire sighs, throwing her hair back behind her shoulder. She begins to to gather some of the more durable leaves and a few of the vines she had seen from yesterday. She identified them as an inedible plant. It's actually quite poisonous, but only if it's ingested. However, it is very durable. She begins to gently weave a type of lopsided square made up of the red and orange leaves. She places the meat on it, wraps it up, and ties it secure with the vines. She hands it to Amberlyn. "There, now just put it in your jacket pocket until we can eat it. Amberlyn smiles at her ally's resourcefulness.

"I knew you would be useful."

"Yeah," Claire answers absentmindedly. She begins to gather more and more of the green vines together.

"What are you doing?"

"Do me a favor," Claire says, adding more and more of the green vines to her pile.

"What?"

"Grab as many of these vines as possible. Try to get the long ones."  
"What are you going to do with them?" Amberlyn asks, severely confused but still walking toward a vine covered tree.

"I'm making a net. When we leave here, I'll set it. If someone comes here, they'll set it off and be stuck. They'll either starve to death or get killed by another tribute," explains the 12 girl as she begins weaving her vines.

"What if they have a knife? They can just cut themselves out of it."

"It'll be too high. If they cut themselves out, they'll fall and get hurt."  
"Will the vines be strong enough?"

"Once I weave them all together, they will be."

"Where do you think of these things?" asks Amberlyn with a giggle, absolutely overjoyed at how well the partnership is working out.

"I payed attention during training," she says. Amberlyn collects more vines and adds them to the pile, and that's how things went on for the two girls for a while, until they heard a voice.

"Well, well, well, looks like an alliance if you ask me." Claire and Amberlyn turn around to see the blonde girl from District 7, Sydney. She's brandishing a large knife that looks much different than any knives Amberlyn had seen at the Cornucopia.

"Where did you manage to find that?" Claire asks.

"Sponsors. My friends at home must have some faith in me. But that's not important right now." Sydney charges at Claire, but she rolls out of the the way, holding out her leg to trip Sydney. The District 7 girls stumbles on Claire's leg, but doesn't lose her footing. Amberlyn pulls out her hatchet and leaps at Sydney, not letting another tribute go like she did Brian. Sydney slides away just in time to avoid Amberlyn's swing. She slashes at the girl with her hunting knife, but misses. Claire jumps Sydney, stomping on her wrist. There's a sickening crack and he blonde girl screams. Amberlyn brings her leg up and crushes the girls windpipe with her boot, stopping the screams.

"Finish her," Claire growls, picking up the knife. Amberlyn swings the hatchet, ending their competitor's time in the games. A canon sounds. "Quick, take her jacket and the laces off of her boots."

"Why?"

"Just do it," Claire answers, reaching down to pull the black jacket away from the body. Amberlyn quickly unlaces the boots and pulls the black laces off, handing them to Claire.

"Looks like we make a pretty good team," says Amberlyn happily.

"Looks like it, huh?"

Nikki

Treading through the terrain of the summer forest, Nikki breathes in and out deeply. She focuses on keeping her breathing regulated and her legs moving. The sound of the canon in the distance caused her to be more alert. She began to walk away from the sound, hoping to avoid whatever caused the death. Too afraid to try her luck at the cornucopia, Nikki simply ran as fast as she could into the summer forest, hoping for the best. She had heard a bear or some other animal roar in the distance earlier that morning, but the sound was far away and she hasn't heard it since then. Thankfully, she had consumed as much water as possible in her days leading up to the games. She was thirsty, but it wasn't unbearable. Her tongue was dry, but she wasn't hallucinating or experiencing any serious symptoms of dehydration. When she woke up in the morning, she began her trek for the winter field, eager to eat some of the snow covering the ground. The arena confuses Nikki. She doesn't have a very acute sense of direction in the first place, but this multi-seasonal field has her completely turned around. She hopes the direction she is walking in will lead her to the winter quadrant, but she has no way of being sure. She hasn't seen any competitors since she ran from the cornucopia, and she's praying things will stay that way. The way Nikki figures it is, as long as she can avoid the other tributes in the early stages of the games, she will easily be able to dispatch the remaining few competitors. True, she didn't have a weapon, but her father had taught her to fight when she was younger, and she grew to be very skilled at it. She desperately needs a knife or sword, but when it comes down to it, she could put up a good fight with just her fists and powerful kicks. A sound of movement and a slight rattling prompts Nikki to spin around, fists already up. "Hey, you," greets the girl from 1, Autumn, with a taunting sense of friendliness.

"Oh, that's so nice of you. Did you bring me some water?" asks Nikki arrogantly, gesturing at Autumn's backpack.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you, 8? Actually, I didn't bring you water. I just came to kill some annoying little tributes that are standing in the way of my victory."

"Aren't your Career buddies standing in your way too?" Nikki asks, trying to stall in order to plan out her method of attack.

"Well, yeah, but do you think I'll let them live past top 6? I'll just offer to take watch one night and stick it to them," Autumn explains, making a cutting motion across her neck with her threatening blade.

"That's how much the alliance means to you?"

"Oh, please, it's the Hunger Games, not the Best Friend Games. I'm not here to make buddies. I'm here to kill, and I'm here to win. Now, let's start with you." Autumn runs at Nikki, a single knife drawn. Nikki, side steps out of the way, making a grab for the other girl's backpack, but the pack is tight on Autumn's shoulders, and it won't budge easily. Autumn turns and swipes with her knife, but Nikki jumps back, narrowly missing it. Nikki makes a sweep for Autumn's ankles with her leg. The impact causes the Career tribute to fall on the ground, but she manages to roll backwards and back onto her feet faster than Nikki can aim a kick at her. Autumn growls, pulling a second knife out of it's sheath, charging at Nikki. The weaponless girl turns and runs for the nearest tree, climbing as fast as she can. "Can't you just stay still?!" shouts Autumn, visibly angry.

"Not today." Nikki grabs a thick branch near her and jumps off the tree. Her weight causes the branch to snap on the way down. Nikki twirls, branch in hand, and slams it into Autumn's side. This causes her to gasp, dropping one knife. Before Nikki can make a grab for it, Autumn kicks it away as she tries to catch her breath. The District 1 girl screams, sprinting at Nikki. She jumps to the side, making another swing with her branch, but Autumn ducks out of the way. She manages to make a grapple for the branch, pulling it from Nikki's grasp and throwing it off toward the knife.

"You're all out of tricks," Autumn grins, however, you can tell the girl is in pain.

"You keep telling yourself that." Nikki throws a kick at Autumn's stomach. It makes impact, causing Autumn to stumble backwards and almost drop her second knife. Nikki steps forward and punches Autumn hard in the cheek, but Autumn manages to swipe Nikki's forearm with her knife, causing a thin trickle of blood to flow from the newly formed slash in her sleeve. The cut isn't deep, but is still extremely painful. Nikki throws a second punch with her other fist, this time knocking Autumn to the ground. Her knife falls out of her grasp, and this time, Nikki manages to retrieve it. Grabbing Autumn's shirt collar, the District 8 girl finishes her opponent with just a few plunges of the knife. She pulls the backpack off of the other girl's body and opens it up as the second canon of the day sounds off. As Nikki takes inventory, she counts at least seven knives, three pairs of brass knuckles, a pair of night vision glasses, a half gallon bottle of water, a first-aid kit, a box of matches, five packs of beef jerky, and two packs of dried fruit. Grinning at the oddly large amount of weapons, she tries on the brass knuckles, already knowing how useful they will be. She puts the supplies back in the bag, takes a sip of water, and continues to walk toward the winter field as the body of her fallen competitor is dragged into the sky.

Jared

Jared and his district partner continue to casually stroll through to spring forest. There have only been two canons that day, but both had been a fair distance away, so the two aren't worried. Jared had snapped out of his minor shock from killing Brady late the night before. They shared one beef jerky strip and began to walk. They knew they needed water, but they weren't terribly thirsty. The temperature of the summer area, however, was very high. "We have to talk about the Careers," Erin says.

"What about them?" Jared asks with a fake innocence. He had been avoiding the topic of confronting the Careers since early that morning.

"We need to think of a battle plan!"

"Does getting killed count as a battle plan?"

"It's not a sure thing that we'll get killed. If we have a good plan, they won't know what hit them," Erin explains, pleading for Jared's ideas.

"What are we going to do, Erin? We're from District 3. Throw us some computer parts and we'll be fine, but we're fresh out of those right now. We have no fighting skills at all!"

"Well, you killed Brady!"

"The only reason I killed Brady was because I snuck up on him. If he saw me coming, we'd both be dead, and you know it," counter Jared.

"Well, maybe we could sneak up on them while they're sleeping," suggests the girl.

"That won't work. They'll have someone keeping watch."

"But it would be two against one."

"The other Careers would have woken up by the time we managed to kill the first."

"Why can't we just shoot at them from afar with the bow?" Erin is becoming increasingly annoyed at Jared's constant negativity. She turns to look at the setting sun, extremely aggravated.

"They'd see us if when we got close enough to actually hit them. Any farther away and we'd miss."

"Well maybe if you'd-" Erin began, but she was interrupted at the sound of running and the rustling of underbrush.

"Who's there?" asks Jared, drawing his knife. Erin does the same. From behind a grouping of trees in front of them, the girl from District 4, Madison, walks out, holding a spear. She stares at them, and they stare back. No one moves, no one charges, no one raises their weapons. Madison's eyes flicker between Erin and Jared over and over again as if she is racking her brain to make some kind of decision. Erin considers taking Madison's hesitation as an advantage and leap at the girl with her knife, but she doesn't. Jared is afraid to breath, scared he will snap the District 4 girl out of whatever stupor she is in. Madison shakes her head slowly and takes a step back slowly. She takes another, gives one final look at Erin, turns around completely, and runs from the scene.

"Should we go after her?" Erin asks urgently.

"No. We won't catch up, and she let us go. Let's not push our luck."

"But why would she do that? She didn't even try to attack?"

"I don't know, but I'm not questioning it." After that, Erin tries to discuss what had just happened more with Jared, but he shuts down all conversation, afraid that poking holes in Madison's logic would just bring her back to kill them. The two reach a fairly large and thick tree, climb it, and watch the sun go down. After hearing the Capital anthem, only two faces shine in the sky that night: Sydney, the girl from 7, and Autumn, the Career from 1.

"Well, that's one Career down," says Erin optimistically, but Jared doesn't answer, only closing his eyes as he leans against the tree, preparing for another day of surviving.


	4. Days 3 & 4

Day 3

Sarabeth

Sarabeth is sleeping when the rain starts to fall. The spring forest had been relatively peaceful during the two day previous. The temperature hadn't been too high, and they're hadn't been much action. Aside from the two canons that sounded off the day before, Sarabeth had just been sitting quietly, trying her best to reserve her half gallon of water and 6 packs of beef jerky. Each morning, Sarabeth would crawl out of the tree she had slept in, walk for a few hours, find a new tree, and wait for the day to pass or for a threat to approach. She is so thankful that she retrieved the backpack from the Cornucopia. Although she didn't have any weapons, she had enough supplies for a little while longer.

Today, however, is different. Sarabeth wipes the water off of her forehead as she stares off into the grey morning light. This is the first rain she has seen since leaving her home town of District 11. She unbelts herself from the tree branch she had slept on and climbs to the ground. There isn't much mud seeing as the rain just started. Sarabeth reaches into her backpack and pulls out her water bottle, unscrewing the cap and allowing the rain to fill it up. It was about half full and is already refilling quickly. She takes a sip and screws the cap back up, preparing to begin walking. Honestly, the rain is a refreshing change, but could become a problem if it remains constant, or if this rain brings lightning with it.

Sarabeth tenses when she hears whooping and hollering. She turns and doesn't see anyone, but hears more cheering, twigs snapping, and sees branches swaying in the distance. She takes a step away from the sounds, but is still hesitant as she is not entirely sure what is making them. She turns and begins to walk quickly away, not necessarily running, but not taking her time either. However, her questions are answered when she hears a voice. "Guys, we've got one!" shouts a male voice. Sarabeth turns and sees the short boy from 1 followed by the three other remaining Careers. She is confused at why the boy from District 4 isn't with them, but she doesn't wait for an answer. Sarabeth turns back around and sprints for her life through the rain. She can hear the Careers trailing behind her but knows she is keeping a safe distance. Sarabeth is fast and is used to weaving through trees and underbrush because of her life in the fields and orchards of District 11. The Career tributes aren't, and this slows them down. She jumps over fallen branches, ducks under low hanging ones, and prays the four tributes behind her won't catch up. Why would they leave the cornucopia unprotected? Unless that's where Conner is... But Sarabeth has no idea.

Suddenly, she hears movement right next to her. She panics, turning to see which Career has caught up to her, but Sarabeth doesn't see the face of a Career. She sees the face of her district partner, Zach. He turns and, despite the life or death situation, grins at her. "You better keep up," he says, quickening his pace as best he can. Sarabeth matches him, but wonders how they ran into each other so randomly. Together, they continue to weave through the forest. The Careers don't appear to be catching up, but the District 11 tributes certainly aren't losing them.

"Catch up to them!" shouts a female voice from behind Sarabeth. She spares a glance behind her. The Careers are a good twenty feet behind them. However, the tall girl, Madison, is a few feet ahead of the rest, clearly faster. Just when Sarabeth believes she going to run out of energy, she and her district partner break into a clearing, seeing two other contestants sitting around a backpack. Sarabeth remembers them as the boys from 7 and 9, but she doesn't know why they would be together. They must have formed an alliance. They jump to their feet, one boy sliding brass knuckles onto his fingers and the other notching an arrow on his bow.

"You've got a bigger problem on your hands," Zach says as he runs to stand next to them, pointing in the direction of the fastly approaching Careers. Sarabeth follows suit, taking her place next to the District 9 boy. The four Career tributes break into the clearing, wielding swords, knives, spears, and bloodthirsty looks. There is a moment of pause as they take in the newly formed group of four. They definitely weren't expecting to take on four other tributes. One or two they could handle, but a group of four? Even the Careers had their limits. Sarabeth looks over to Zach as he pulls out a knife and hammer, passing the hammer to Sarabeth. She grabs it out of the air, testing its weight.

"You're not so sure about taking us on now, are you?" questions Sarabeth, making as if her and the three other tributes have been a group since the beginning.

"I'm sure you can't be that much trouble," says the District 2 boy, bringing his sword up to a fighting position.

"Where'd your little District 1 girl go? I thought the Careers always made it to the end?" taunts Zach, a bigger grin on his face.

"She let herself get killed. We're not too worried about it," says the girl from 4.

"You're right. It's us you should be worried about," informs the boy from 9. He charges at the Careers. Zach and Sarabeth follow him, their weapons held high. Zach slashes with his knife at the girl from 2, cutting a gash in her left arm. Sarabeth swings at the boy from 1, but he dodges, and the hammer only clips his shoulder. Nathan makes a powerful swing with his fist, slamming into the boy from District 2's face. The girl from 4 levels her spear, but is slightly hesitant for some reason. Sarabeth uses this hesitation to her advantage, grabbing the spear. She wrenches it from the other girl's grasp, holds it against a nearby tree, and breaks off the sharp tip with one swing of the hammer.

"Ugh, let's just go back and regroup!" screams the boy from 2, spitting blood out of his mouth and holding his cheek. He turns to run from the clearing. The others follow him, shooting hateful glares at the other tributes.

"Yes!" shouts Zach in victory. He laughs hysterically, throwing his hands joyfully. The boy from 9 hollers as well, offering Zach a high five. Their hands meet in the air with a loud clap.

"Do you think they'll come back?" asks Sarabeth, not exactly taking part in the festivities.

"Well, they better not!" shouts Zach.

"They probably will. We need to move. I don't want to be here when they try to catch us off guard," explains the boy from District 7, placing the arrow back in the quiver.

"We as in you and me, or we as in all four of us?" asks 9.

"We as in you and me, Nathan."

"Konor!"

"Don't ask. I don't want to add to this alliance."

"But we could help you guys!" says Zach pleadingly.

"Exactly. Did you see how well we just took on the four of them? We could take them out so easy if we just stuck together to do it!" Nathan tells his ally.

"What if one of them turns on us? It would only be a matter of time."

"How about we just stick together until we finish off the Careers?" suggests Sarabeth. "After we get rid of them, we'll split up. Every man for himself."

"That sounds good to me," says Zach.

"Me too," adds Nathan.

"So you're going to put your life into the hand of these two strangers because you had one little fight together?" asks Konor, obviously annoyed.

"Yes, I am. We're just staying together until we kill the Careers. That's not long at all, and someone has to do it!" Sarabeth watches as Konor thinks over the proposition. She honestly can't see why he wouldn't go for it. It's simple, really. They're just going to stick together until they take out the Careers, and then they'll split up again. It's that easy. Konor sighs.

"If either one of you step out of line at all, it's over. And we split up as soon as we kill the Careers. Got it?" The two District 11 tributes grin stupidly at their newly formed alliance.

Brian

Brian sneakily glances out from behind the summer tree at the Cornucopia. It appears to be deserted. There are no Careers in sight. Brian smiles, walking out from the trees toward the stock of weapons and supplies. He glances quickly at the odd rainstorm that is covering the spring area and only the spring area. He wonders how the other tributes are fairing in the rainy weather. The winter area acts similarly as a constant stream of heavy snow falls from the sky. The trees in the fall field are swaying back and forth because of a powerful wind, and Brian noticed that morning that the temperature of the summer field had risen even higher. He could tell the Gamemakers were causing crazy weather according to each field. Brian breaks into a run for the mountains of items at the golden horn. He comes first to the stack of backpacks, grabbing one and opening it. It has all kinds of helpful supplies including matches, night vision glasses, and a first aid kit. He grabs six bottles of water and as many dried foods as he can manage. He tosses in another first aid kit and walks to the pile of weapons. He grabs three knives, a pair of brass knuckles, and a small hatchet similar to the one he lost to Amberlyn. He could certainly fit more weapons into his pack, but he doesn't want to get greedy.

Brian turns and does a double take as he sees a figure emerging from the winter field. He recognizes him as Conner, the tribute from 4. Brian immediately takes a fighting stance, wielding a newly retrieved knife. Conner holds up his hand, showing that he doesn't want to fight. "Where are they?" asks the boy.

"Who?" Brian asks, lowering the knife slowly as Conner gets closer.

"The Careers."

"Aren't you with them?" wonders Brian, severely confused.

"No, I'm not. I split from them during the bloodbath. Do you know where they are?" Conner asks again, picking up two bottles of water and stowing them into his own backpack.

"No, I don't. Where do you th-" Brian stops his sentence as he hears the sound of running. He turns and sees yet another figure. It is Nikki, his district partner from 8. emerging from the rain covered, spring field. She is soaking wet and gasping for breath as she approaches the two boys.

"Let's go!" She shouts, quickly grabbing a pack of dried fruit and a bottle of water.

"What's wrong?" asks Brian.

"I followed the Careers. They attacked this alliance of four other tributes, but ran away. And now they're coming back here. So let's go!" Nikki throws the items she just collected into her backpack and turns to run into the winter field. Without a second thought, Brian and Conner follow her. They hurry deep into the field with snow falling from the sky. After a few minutes of running, they reach a small clearing and stop to catch their breath. Brian, just realizing how cold it is, zips up his jacket, hoping for warmth.

"Now, what happened?" asks Conner. There is no hostility in his voice, only confusion.

"The Careers. I was spying on them this morning, and they went into the spring field to look for more tributes. I followed them and they ran into four other tributes: both tributes from 10 and the boys from 7 and 9."

"They're in an alliance?" demands Brian, already thinking of how much of a threat the four of them could be.

"I guess so. The Careers went after them, but they attacked first and sent them running. And now, they're on their way back to the Cornucopia. I guess to regroup." Conner nods at this, looking as if he's thinking of a plan. Then, Conner says something that Brian would have never expected.

"We'll be safer together. I don't want to meet one of those alliances out there by myself." Nikki looks completely surprised, but nods anyway, and so does Brian. Not another word is spoken about the subject. The three take stock of their possessions, dividing them up so that everyone has an equal amount. They simply stay in one place as they watch the sun trail across the sky. There are no rustlings, and no figures that come to meet the trio. They eat dried fruit and drink water for supper. No faces shine in the sky. No tributes died during day three. Brian lays his head down to rest his eyes when he is brought back up to a sitting position at the sound of booming trumpets.

"Well, well, well," chimes the voice of Claudius Templesmith, "an interesting thing has occurred over the past three days of this Hunger Games. Every single tribute has formed an alliance with at least one other person." Brian and Conner share a glance. "That's right kids, no one is on their own. So, as a reward for being so proactive and having such trust in your fellow competitors, we are going to offer a feast. All of you have weapons, true, but wouldn't you like to have something to shift the tide? To place your alliance ahead of the others? If so, hurry to the cornucopia. The feast begins as dawn. Goodnight, tributes." Then, there is silence. Brian looks at his hands, weighing his options. Conner lays down on his back.

"Rest up. We're going."

Day 4

Claire

Claire did not sleep much on the night leading up to day 4. She was afraid she would not wake up in time to fight for whatever would be up for grabs at the feast. There was no question about it when the two girls found out; they were going. However, Claire could not believe that every single member of the games was in an alliance with someone else. That would definitely be a challenge. As the grey morning light began to poke through the trees of the summer field, Claire makes sure her coil is in her pocket and the hunting knife is hanging from her belt loop. She turns to look at Amberlyn, also preparing herself for the coming fight. "Let's go," Claire says, turning to walk toward the break in the trees that the two of them had camped out by.

"Let's." Amberlyn follows Claire slowly, making sure her footsteps aren't too loud. They reach the end of the forest and just barely peek out from behind a tree. All they see is the golden cornucopia shining dimly in the morning light. There are no Careers, and there is certainly no feast.

"He said it would be at dawn..."

"Just wait," Amberlyn whispers, staring intently at the seemingly deserted arena. Suddenly, the cornucopia is split in two and appears to fold in on itself, almost like a cardboard box. It lowers down into the ground and, for a moment, there is only a deep hole in its place. Then, something rises from the ground. It appears to be a massive dining table. It is absolutely covered in basic black supplies. Claire can't tell exactly what those supplies are from the distance she is at, but she knows they'll be useful. Something else rises out of the ground and takes a spot next to the dining table: a black jeep-like vehicle. Claire knows immediately that she wants to try for that.

For a moment, there is silence. No competitors come out. Nothing happens. That is, until Claire realizes they needed to hurry. "Let's go!" she shouts, no longer bothering to be stealthy. The two leap out from behind the tree cover, running their fastest towards the table, their weapons raised. Out of the winter field bursts a trio of other tributes. Claire remembers them as Nikki, Brian, and Conner. So that's one alliance, she thinks as she makes it to the table first. The first thing she sees is a handgun. There have never been guns in the games before. She grabs one, aims it at Brian and fires. She misses however, and instead of firing again, she turns to grab a backpack. Amberlyn catches up to her, grabbing a gun of her own. She turns to take her own hand at firing, but misses as well.

As Claire is grabbing cans of what she believes is pepper spray, she sees a group of four emerge from the spring field. However, they are not the Careers. Claire has yet to see them. Instead of attacking Claire and Amberlyn, the alliance of four passes them, heading straight for the jeep. Brian picks up his speed, stopping at the table just long enough to pick up what appears to be a metal baton. Conner passes the table without grabbing anything. The two boys reach the group of four just as Zach and Konor jump into the jeep, turning the key, allowing the engine to roar to life. Sarabeth tries to jump in the back, but Brian grabs her by the hair, pulling her to the ground. He takes the baton and bludgeons her head several times. A canon sounds off. That is when the Careers emerge from the autumn field. The four of them, already brandishing powerful weapons, storm Conner and Brian just as Nikki catches up to them. Brian takes a swing at Madison with his baton, but she deflects it with her sword. She offers a return swing, but he dodges it easily. Nikki takes a canister of pepper spray that she retrieved from the table and sprays it directly into Amelia's eyes. She screams out in pain. Nikki punches her twice quickly, once in the stomach and once in the face, with her brass knuckles. She falls to the ground, but there is no canon signaling her death.

Ross rears back with his own sword, aiming for Nikki, but Brian hits him hard in the back of the knees with his baton, causing him to lose his footing along with Amelia. Nikki pulls out a knife, quickly leaping at Amelia. She dispatches the fallen girl quickly while Ross shouts in protest. All the while, Zach and Konor are fighting the others for control of the jeep. Madison is trying to pull them off, but Zach is keeping her at bay with his hammer. Nathan begins to climb into the back of jeep, but Ross, after regaining his footing, drives his sword deep through Nathan's neck, causing a third canon to sound. Claire watches as Madison seems to finally notice that the group of two is still retrieving supplies at the table. Madison sprints for them, sword in hand. Amberlyn turns to run as well, but Claire grabs her shoulder. "I've got this," she says, holding up the gun. Claire closes one eye and stares down the sight. She takes a breath, and fires. It makes impact, causing Madison to stumble, but not fall completely. There is also no blood where the bullet hit. At first, this confuses Claire, but then she realizes that the guns aren't real. They have rubber bullets, the kind that are used for crowd control at riots in the districts. Claire fires twice more, forcing Madison to stop and fall completely, groaning loudly and painfully. The District 12 girl runs for her, lowering the gun and raising her knife.

Madison makes it back onto her knees, but is still grunting from the pain. Claire jumps at her, pushing her back to the ground. Madison throws a punch at the other girl's side. Claire grits her teeth and stabs Madison in the arm. The District 4 girl lets loose a blood curdling scream of pain. She grabs at Claire's hair and pulls, ripping a fair amount out. Then, she rakes her fingernails along her face, creating deep scratches on Claire's left cheek. The brown haired girl reaches up with her knife and drives it into Madison's neck. A fourth canon sounds.

Ross

"No!" Ross shouts as his second ally falls in battle. He makes a run for the table, but the girl from 10, Amberlyn, intercepts him. She make a swing with her hatchet, but he dodges out of the way, answering with a jab of his sword. Amberlyn drops to her back in order to avoid the weapon. She tries to sweep his feet out from under him, but he jumps, dodging the maneuver. Amberlyn growls, reaching up to scratch at his arm. The nails dig deep into his skin, drawing blood. Ross kicks her hard in the shoulder, knocking her back onto her back. Claire runs up to her ally and grabs her arm. "It's time to go!" she yells, helping Amberlyn back on her feet. The two turn and begin to run before Ross has time to counter. Ross turns to see the alliance of three running toward his direction, Jesse hot on their trail. Ross runs widely around them, trying to reach Jesse.

"What are you doing?!" cries Jesse. "Go after them!" he shouts, pointing at the two males beginning to drive away in the jeep. He considers running after them, but the jeep has already begun to fade into the rainfall of the spring field. Ross shakes his head and goes to follow Jesse as he chases Nikki, Brian, and Conner. The three are furiously shoving guns, pepper spray, and batons into black backpacks already full of supplies. They also grab what appears to be a riot shield, and turn to sprint for the winter field. Jesse continues to chase after them.

"It's no use!" yells Ross, causing Jesse to stop his chase. "They'll over power us. We need to stop and think about this." Jesse and Ross allow the three tributes to retreat. They close their eyes and breathe deeply, allowing the adrenaline to leave their system.

"What just happened?"

"Exactly what the Gamemakers wanted, the bloodbath they missed out on from the start." The bodies of the four fallen tributes are finally being lifted into the sky. After the massacre that just transpired, there are eleven tributes left in the games, a more appropriate number for day four.

"What do we do now?'

"We stick together and make some kind of plan. We can't stay here. Let's find another area to occupy."

"There are alliances in all of the areas," says Jesse, walking over to the table to examine what is left.

"We'll just have to find someplace new." Ross follows Jesse to the table and counts the supplies. There are two guns, a baton, three cans of pepper spray and nine of the riot shields. "This could be useful," says Ross as he taps one of the shields.

"It's all useful. Everyone else just has more of it," Jesse scoffs pessimistically.

"We have more riot shields. Only Conner's group took one. We could use them to fortify our campsite."

"Who knew the others could fight like that? I mean sure, there's always one or two tributes that aren't Careers who have the capability to win, but they were all a threat. How do we stand up to that?"

"I don't know... But hey, they weren't all a threat. The tributes from 3 aren't here. I bet they teamed up and decided not to show!"

"They'll probably be our easiest target," agrees Jesse.

"Are you ready to get moving?" Ross asks.

"Let's give the others the treatment they deserve," he answers, grabbing one of the shields.

Zach

The District 11 boy had driven a car before, but only once or twice, and it is becoming increasingly harder to weave through the rain covered trees with the vehicle. They were lucky to have been the group to get it, but they didn't gain any other supplies and lost Sarabeth and Nathan. Zach is still trying to process that. The two boys reach the clearing and kill the ignition on the jeep. "Are you okay?" Konor asks him.

"I have to be, don't I?"

"That was insane. I knew it would be dangerous, but I didn't think half of our group would be killed."

"Those two girls got lucky. They were only left alone because no one saw them as that much of a threat, but did you see that District 10 girl fighting Ross? She would have killed him if her ally didn't pull her away."

"They got most of the supplies, didn't they?" asks Konor.

"I think so. I don't think there was much left when we drove off. The District 3 tributes weren't there, were they?"

"I didn't see them. How are they both still around? District 3 always gets out early..."

"They must be doing something right," Zach sighs, climbing out of the vehicle. "So what do we do now?"

"We need to start taking out the groups, for sure."

"They're too strong for us. With all of the supplies they got, we'd be done in minutes," Zach explains. He holds up his knife, only now remembering that the hammer was dragged into the air with Sarabeth's body.

"Then, let's go after the District 3's. They can't be that much of a threat or else they would have been fighting at the feast."

"We'll go looking in the morning."

"Sounds good... Hey, Zach?" asks Konor.

"Yeah?"

"Are you scared?" There is a moment of silence before Zach's answer.

"Terrified."

Conner

The trio gasps for breath as they finally reach their clearing in the winter area. Brian throws down the riot shield, falling into the snow on his knees.

"I call that... a win," says Nikki between deep breaths.

"Definitely," Brian adds swinging his baton at an imaginary enemy.

"So, there's eleven of us left?" asks Conner.

"I think so. Let's count what we've got," Nikki says, placing her backpack next to Conner's, Brian's, and the black one that was retrieved at the feast. After taking inventory, the three of them counted six guns, four cans of pepper spray, three batons, a backpack filled with things like a high-tech first-aid kit and large bottles of water, and the one riot shield.

"The guns have rubber bullets," states Brian.

"If they gave us real guns, things would be way too easy. After all, this is meant to be entertaining," explains Conner.

"Well, that feast should have been entertainment enough for the night. Do you think the Gamemakers will leave us alone?" asks Nikki.

"Definitely. The feast may have lasted less than an hour, but they'll be replaying scenes from it all day. We should be fine until tomorrow," answers Conner as he begins divvying up the supplies.

"So, what do we do until then?"

"We wait. Tomorrow morning, we go out to start picking off the groups." Conner brushes off a place on the ground to sit as he says this, crossing his arms serenely.

Amberlyn

The two girls sit down against a tree, trying to catch their breath in the autumn toned forest. "That was insane," breathes Amberlyn slowly.

"But, we came out alive. That's the important thing."

"Who is our biggest competition?"

"Well," begins Claire, "it was the Careers, but now that there are only two of them left, Nikki, Conner, and Brian are definitely too much for us to handle head to head. We'll need to take them out from a distance of with traps." Just as Claire says the word traps, she looks up to see a camouflage colored backpack float from the sky on a silver parachute. It falls right in front of Claire's feet and she glances at Amberlyn before picking it up. Ripping off the parachute, Claire unzips the backpack to find exactly what she needs. An array of trap making tools is revealed to her: metal coil, rope, tripwire, a type of poison, and many more things that are ten times as useful than what she retrieved at the feast. She shows her sponsor gift to Amberlyn.

"That must have cost a fortune!" she says, grinning at the supplies.

"I bet it did. I'm going to rig traps around the clearing. If anyone tries to ambush us, they'll get cut short." Amberlyn grins as her ally begins setting traps galore.

Erin

Erin and Jared quickly creep away from the spring forest edge that they had been spying from. The moment they heard of the feast, they decided against going. They knew they wouldn't be able to fight against the alliances, and they were right. If two Careers can get killed, then Jared and Erin wouldn't have stood a chance. Instead, they just watched from atop a tree, gritting their teeth at the gory sight. They knew that Zach and Konor had driven into the same forest as them, so they tried to walk as far away as they could. "What are we going to do?" asks Jared sadly.

"What do you mean?"

"With all of those supplies and new weapons, we don't stand a chance against the other alliances. They'd destroy us before we'd even get close enough to pose a threat."

"You don't know that," Erin counters.

"No, Erin, I do know that. We have a bow that we don't know how to use and a couple knives. That's basically close to nothing compared to what the others have and you know it," spits Jared, grabbing at his hair aggravatingly.

"Then let's make a plan! We are still here for a reason, Jared. We can make it farther, okay?" But Jared doesn't answer. He instead sits down against a tree, holding his hands out to catch rain drops as the storm begins to lighten up. Just when Erin is about to lash out at him, she sees a silver parachute float down from the grey clouds. "Jared, look!" she says, pointing at the airborne object. The boy jumps to his feet in excitement. A small, metal canister falls directly in between the two tributes.

"It's meant for both of us," Jared says happily. Erin reaches to pick it up. She opens the canister and turns it over, her hand ready to catch whatever is inside. A small, silver sphere rolls out along a with a small remote consisting of a single red button. The sphere is about six inches in diameter and has metal like scales all over it.

"What is it?" Erin asks, confused.

"It's an explosive," Jared answers in awe, his voice almost a whisper.

"What?!"

"We learned about it in class. The Capital used them against the Districts all the time during the war. You just put the bomb wherever you want, and press the red button when you're ready. It's small, but extremely powerful. Why would someone send it to us, though? Do you realize how much it must have cost the sponsor?"

"Someone believes in us... Jared, don't you get it? This is our big ticket item! This is what we'll use to get ahead! These people want us to win. So let's give them what they asked for."

"What are we going to use it on?"

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Erin asks with a slight smile, sliding the explosive back into the canister.

"That jeep?"

**"Of course." The rest of the day, the two Tributes from District 3 make a plan of action. They watch as the faces of Amelia, Madison, Nathan****, and Nathan appear in the sky, and then they close their eyes to sleep, ready for another eventful day tomorrow.**


	5. Day 5

Day 5

**Jesse**

The sun has just barely risen on the fifth day of the Hunger Games. Jesse and Ross didn't get much sleep. They spent the entire night trying to find an appropriate place to camp. Being extremely stealthy, the two remaining Careers entered the summer field and soon found a small grouping of trees that would make a good place to station at. Working all night, they dragged riot shields from the feast table and back to their campsite, setting them up in between trees in order to fortify it. They grew more and more confident, even though they had less weapons than the other alliances. Ross is very skilled with the gun, and Jesse is strategic enough to form successful plan. "What do you think?" Jesse asks his ally, motioning to their new territory.

"I really like it," Ross answers with a slight smile. "So, what's our plan?"

"We can't just sit here. We need to try and cut down some of those other alliances," Jesse answers, test swinging his baton a few times.

"I know, but who do we go for?"

"Nikki, Conner, and Brian are definitely out. They are way too much for us," explains Jesse with an annoyed sigh.

"What about Claire and Amberlyn?" Ross suggests.

"Maybe, but they're a wildcard. That Claire girl took out Madison, and Amberlyn is vicious. Could we handle them?"

"Who knows. Zach and Konor don't seem like much of a threat, but what do you think about them with that jeep?"

"They're dangerous. Even if we get close enough, they could always just run us over," Jesse answers, making sure the shields are secure.

"We need to go for those District 3 tributes. They didn't get anything from the feast, and they probably didn't have that much to begin with," Ross says.

"But, the thing is, if we noticed that, then so did the others. District 3 will be a target for everyone. We could get mixed up in the crossfire."

"That's true..." Ross is truly amazed at Jesse's strategic mind. He comes up with things that Ross would have completely overlooked otherwise. "So, who are we going after?"

"I think we should just start walking. We'll avoid the winter forest and look for the others. If we don't find anyone before nightfall, we'll just come back."

"That sounds good... Jesse, can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Jesse says.

"You and me, we can't both win. Only one of us can get out of this thing alive. I want it to be me, and I'm sure you want it to be you. We can't just sit here and pretend like this alliance will last forever," Ross explains in a quizzical tone.

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying, we need to set a deadline. We to pick a time that we just have to split up."

"I really just don't want to think about it. Can we worry when it gets closer to the end?" pleads Jesse. "I just wish we would have met under different circumstances. We work good together, and in some other situation, I'm sure we'd be friends."

"I feel the same way, but we aren't in another situation. We're in this one. At top 5, we need to split. Is that okay?" asks Ross.

"It'll have to be."

**Nikki**

Shivering under the cold conditions of the winter storm, Nikki turns to Conner. "Is it getting colder here? I swear it wasn't this freezing yesterday," she says with chattering teeth.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it is getting colder. The Gamemakers are trying to drive us closer together. We're the only ones in the winter field, so they probably want us to move on. We shouldn't, though, at least for now," explains Conner. Despite the dropping temperature, Nikki has not seen Conner shiver once. He has remained stoic and solid throughout the blizzard like temperatures. At this moments, Brian comes walking back into the clearing, shivering along with Nikki.

"Did you see anyone out there?" the blonde girl asks, moving over to share her body warmth with her district partner.

"No one. They put the cornucopia back, though. I grabbed some more supplies," he says, pulling off his backpack and tossing it to Conner. He opens the pack.

"The bottle of water will freeze if we aren't careful," Conner states, zipping up the backpack so it is tightly secure.

"I was thinking while I was out there," Brian begins, "and I don't really know any of you that well."

"We haven't really had the opportunity to share our life stories," laughs Nikki. Brian laughs as well.

"What's your family like, Conner?"

"There alright, I guess. They're pretty tough on me. That's the reason I volunteered. The would have been disappointed if I didn't. My dad won his games when he was sixteen, and it's always been his dream for me to win. I guess that I just... thought that I had something to prove to them..." Nikki frowns at this. She would have no idea how to live with parents like that. Her mom and dad were severely terrified and sorrowful when Nikki was reaped.

"Do you have any siblings?" Nikki asks.

"A sister, and I'm sure when she's old enough, she'll volunteer, too." Brian turns to Nikki.

"What would it mean for you if you won?" he asks.

"Well," she starts, "the most important thing is that I get to see my family again. We're so close to each other. They didn't know how to handle it when my name got called. We make enough money, so it's not like I want to win for the money. I don't act like it, but my biggest fear is that I'll never get to see my family again." There is a moment of silence after Nikki's confession. "What about you Brian?" she asks.

"I need this. If I don't make it back, I don't know what's gonna happen to my family. I've been helping support them since I was little. If I'm not there... I'm afraid what'll happen," he says, slightly reluctantly.

"I'm glad I'm with you guys," says Conner randomly. Nikki and Brian look at each other, confused. "I know I act like the lone wolf kind of guy all of the time, and I mean, I am sometimes, but everyone once in awhile, you just need a friend. You know what I mean? I just like having someone to talk to. I think it keeps me human." When Conner finishes his revelation, Nikki looks up to see something floating down from the sky on a silver parachute. It floats down directly into Conner's lap. It is long and wrapped in brown paper. Conner looks at his allies in disbelief and slowly begins to rip away the paper. It reveals a four foot tall, golden trident.

"Oh my God," whispers Brian.

"There's a note," Conner says, picking up a small white card. It reads "_I'm Rooting For You. Sincerely, R.M."_ Not one of the three tributes knows who R.M. is, but Conner is definitely thankful for his weapon. "Well, it's nice to know that I have some fans," the District 4 boy chuckles with a massive grin.

**Erin**

The rain has picked up again, but Erin and Jared are too nervous to notice. "You have to be quick, okay?" reminds Erin. "They'll probably be asleep, so be quiet too."

"I know," says Jared shakily.

"Do you think you can do this? I would do it Jared, but you're faster than me. You have a better chance."

"I know." Erin sighs nervously. The plan is simple really. Jared runs out to the jeep, places the explosive inside, and runs back before Konor and Zach have time to notice him. Then, Erin will set off the bomb, blowing up the jeep and hopefully taking out Konor and Zach in the process. However, Erin has had a strong feeling that something will go wrong ever since she woke up this morning. Last night, she was beaming with excitement at the sponsor gift, but now, she is just terrified that she or Jared will get hurt.

"Are you ready to go?" Erin asks, handing Jared the spherical explosive. He nods and takes the item from her. They begin to walk slowly and silently toward the direction of Zach and Konor's campsite. They had done a little bit of scouting late the night before, concluding that the jeep was the only thing they managed to retrieve from the feast. Erin considers that a pro to the situation. Neither of the groups of two have the advanced supplies and weapons that the others do. That way, they are still on level playing field. Zach is probably much stronger than the two District 3 tributes, and Konor can fight at long ranges with the bow. They would definitely be a challenge if this situation turned into a fight, but all Jared has to do is thrown the bomb into the jeep and run away. It's simple, quick, and easy.

The light rain almost looks ghostly as the sun just begins to set, casting an orange evening light in the spring forest. Erin and Jared had eaten the last of their food that morning, so they'll be needing to find supplies soon. Sometimes, Erin laughs at the fact that both of them are still fighting. It's a rare occasion when just a single District 3 tribute makes it past the first day, but both Erin and Jared are still alive. And they made it past the top twelve no less. They are the exception to the rule.

Treading lightly, Erin and Jared reach the clearing. However, they remain behind the tree line, not wanting to be seen by their enemies. "Do you see them?" whispers the girl. Jared squints his eyes.

"No, I don't. Where do you think they are?"

"They could have went hunting, or maybe they're looking for other tributes?"

"Why would they leave the jeep here, though?" asks Jared, severely confused.

"I don't know... But we need to hurry before they come back from wherever they are. Are you ready?" Jared is silent, but nods his head slowly. "Good luck." Slowly, Jared steps out from behind the tree, terrified Zach or Konor will materialize to kill him. They don't however, an Jared continues toward the jeep. He should be running, but he is too scared that it will alert someone to attack him. The rain patters against his skin, causing him to shiver. He continues to take one step after the other, making solid progress towards the vehicle. The explosive is shaking violently in his hands. Erin can tell his nerves are close to getting the best of him. The girl breaks out in a grin when he finally reaches the jeep. He is about to place the bomb into the jeep, but something happens, something out of place.

Erin hears a slight whistle. She turn her head, trying to place it. She doesn't realize what is making the sound until the arrow buries itself into Jared's back. He falls to the ground, the bomb rolling away from him. A cannon fires. "No!" Erin screams. Zach and Konor appear into the clearing, running for the body and turning their heads to find Erin. The two boys find the explosive and Zach picks it up, holding up in the sunlight. Erin steps out into the clearing, remote in hand. "Looking for me?" she says loudly. The two turn, but before they can even grasp the concept of Erin appearing, she presses the red button. There is a loud mechanical beeping sound, and then the bomb explodes. The force throws Erin off of her feet and cause her ears to ring, but she turns on her stomach and starts crawling away from the scene. Erin is alone now. She has no district partner to back her up. All she has now is a knife and a new found blood-lust.

She is soon able to get back on her feet, and her hearing doesn't seem to be damaged. She climbs into a tree and tries to collect what just happened. Jared is dead. Zach and Konor were killed in the blast that Erin triggered. She has made her first kill. That is hard for her to process. She remains in the tree for the rest of the day, watching the sunset. When Jared's face appears projected in the sky, she frowns and a tear rolls down her cheek. However, when the faces of Konor and Zach are shown, she smiles at her success. She closes her eyes, promising herself that there is not going to be more passive behavior. Erin is now in it to win it.


	6. Day 6

Day 6

**Ross**

Ross opens his eyes on the morning of day 6 because it's raining. He sits up in his makeshift fort and looks around. His surrounding are all wrong. Rain is falling. The rain isn't violent or extreme. It is soft, but still steady in a slightly soothing way. The night before, the trees were covered in nothing but vibrant green leaves, but now, they are laden with pink and white flowers and blossoms. Their aroma is strong. This isn't right. Ross and Jesse fell asleep in the summer field. The trees were green and the temperature was high. However, they are now in the spring field, with the flowers and the falling rain. "Jesse," he says, shaking his companion awake.

"Huh?" Jesse groans sleepily as he slowly sits up, rubbing his tired eyes.

"Jesse, look," Ross adds, motioning to their new surroundings. This jolts Jesse awake. He jumps to his feet, looking wildly around him.

"How did we get here?" he demands.

"I don't know..." Ross looks around more. He notices a few things. None of the trees have moved or have been removed. They are all exactly the same size and in the same position. The only difference is that now they have flowers. "Jesse, I don't think we went anywhere."

"What are you talking about?"

"Look, everything is in the same place. The trees just changed."

"So, what do you think happened? Do you think the Gamemakers did this?"

"Yes, I do. We're nearing the end. There's eight of us left. They are probably trying to throw us off our game by changing the seasons," Ross explains.

"So, they made the entire field into the spring field?"

"I'm not sure. There's only one way to find out." Ross stands up, grabbing his backpack and slinging it around his shoulders. He picks up a baton and a pistol. "Let's go to the cornucopia and take a look." Jesse follows his lead, grabbing a backpack of his own. Jesse wields a knife and a baton seeing as he has no skill with firearms. The two remaining Careers walk swiftly through the rain. They stay extremely alert, scanning the forest around them for fellow competitors. With it being so close to the end, the other tributes must have an intense hunger for victory. They will do anything to take out their opponents. Ross and Jesse reach the Cornucopia with no trouble. The table has been replaced with the golden horn once again. The two of them turn around in a circle to confirm their assumption: the entire arena has been changed into the spring field.

"Is this good or bad?" Jesse asks.

"Well, if they change the weather every day, it'll start to be really inconvenient, but as of right now, it's just a way to get the tributes moving."

"So, what's your plan?" Before Ross can answer Jesse's question, he looks up. Floating down in the rain is a package wrapped in silver paper floating down on a silver parachute.

"Look," Ross says, pointing up to the item. It floats gently down and comes to a stop on the wet earth in front of Ross's feet. Him and Jesse share a glance. Ross bends down and picks up the sponsor gift. He rips away the paper to discover another gun. However, this is not one of the small handguns with rubber bullets that were offered at the feast. This a double barrel shotgun with two very real shotgun shells. There is a note attached to it. Ross holds it up to his face. "Keep representing our district as well as you have been. Sincerely, J.P."

"Who is that?"Jesse asks, confused.

"I have no idea, but they sure do believe in me."

"You only have two shots. You better make them count."

"Don't worry. I will. As a matter of fact, let's go hunting," Ross says with a grin. Jesse nods, and the two run into what used to be the autumn field.

**Erin**

Erin is determined. When she watched Jared die, a fire was lit inside of her. She found the motivation she had been missing at the start of the games. She is now officially ready to fight back. She had woken up earlier that morning and began walking. There is going to be no more hiding and being idle. She is in the top 8. She is too close to victory to just give it up by sitting in one place. She wants to find her enemies, and she wants to kill them. Even though she is only armed with a knife, she is sure that her newborn ferocity can carry her through a fight. To pass the time, Erin has been practicing jabs and swings with her knife against invisible adversaries. She wants to be prepared when she comes across an enemy.

Suddenly, Erin realizes that something is different. She breaks out of the spring forest and into the clearing that contains the cornucopia. She looks around and notices that there are no longer four different, seasonal quadrants. Instead, every field is the spring area. This severely confuses Erin. What are the Gamemakers planning now? The District 3 girl shrugs off her theories and begins to journey into what used to be the winter field. She has been harboring a constant form of adrenaline ever since she woke up. She is not in the least bit tired or fatigued.

Erin jolts to a stop when she hears a rustling behind her. Gripping her knife so strongly that her knuckles turn white, she turns around in order to discover the origin of the sound. Standing only a mere ten feet away from her with a smoldering expression and a baton in his right hand is Brian. For a moment, the two just hold each other's gazes. Then, Brian takes a step forward. "I bet you're enjoying the weather change," Erin blurts, trying desperately to scramble for time in order to form a successful plan.

"You could say that. Being soaking wet is definitely better than almost freezing to death each night," he admits.

"I'd probably agree with that. So how's your little alliance? Nikki and Conner right?" Erin nervously flicks her eyes around her. A couple of feet to her right is a thick branch laying on the ground.

"How did you know? You didn't go to the feast," Brian says, taking a second step forward. Erin holds her stance.

"Jared and I were spying. We may not have went, but do you think we'd miss something like that? It was pretty entertaining. You three did a pretty ruthless job." The knife is starting to feel heavy in her hand.

"One of us is going to win. I can promise you that."

"Well, it's probably not going to be you." Erin digs her heels into the earth and takes a running leap at Brian. In his surprise, he takes a wild swing at her with his baton, but he misses. She grabs his leg and, not bothering with the knife, bites down as hard as she can on his ankle. Brian cries out, kicking her hard in the shoulder to knock her off. With a painful groan, Erin gets back onto her feet and takes a swipe at Brian. The blade grazes his arms, cutting a hole in his jacket sleeve and draws blood. The boy grits his teeth and tackles Erin to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. She gasps for breath as she makes a stab with the knife. It plants itself deeply into Brian calf. He shouts out in pain. Erin pulls out the blade, but Brian sits up, whacking her hard in the abdomen. Erin screams, tears of pain already starting to form. She would be utterly surprised if one of her ribs didn't break from the force of the blow.

Erin drops the knife for a moment, reaching up and clapping her hands hard against each of Brian's ears, causing him to be plagued with a disabling ringing sound. She grabs the knife back up and scrambles to her feet, holding her hurt side. Slightly clumsily, Brian runs at Erin and grabs a handful of her hair. Pulling her head back, Brian starts to swing at her head, but Erin kicks him hard in the shin and then flings a slap at his face, allowing her to remove herself from his grasp. Shouting a type of battle cry through clenched teeth, Erin takes her turn at tackling Brian to the ground. He falls hard on his back. Erin wraps her hand around his throat and raises her knife, ready to deliver the finishing blow.

**Claire**

Claire and Amberlyn quickly realized the Gamemakers plan behind changing the seasons of the arena. They want the tributes to get up and move, looking for other tributes or possible the season that they were in, even though they would never find it. However, for the time being, the two girls are going to stay put exactly where they are. They are extremely safe surrounded by their traps, and they want to stay that way. However, Claire dismantled a few traps to make coming and going easier and three rabbits have set off separate traps. The two are enjoying their miniature feast when two figures walk into the clearing with them. "Amberlyn," Claire says nervously, jumping to her feet and wielding her hunting knife. Amberlyn finally notices the two intruders and scrambles to her feet as well, gun in one hand and hatchet in the other. Jesse and Ross chuckle tauntingly.

"Don't worry girls. Even if you put up a fight, it won't matter much," Ross says. Claire notices the shotgun in his left hand.

"Where did you manage to find that?" she asks.

"A sponsor actually. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Oh, so you didn't get a sponsor gift?" Amberlyn asks quizzically, pointing at a shotgun-less Jesse. This visibly bothers him.

"I'm not too worried about it. I'm sure I'll get one soon enough," he answers, clearing his throat uncomfortably.

"Not if you're dead before that," Amberlyn says. She turns to Claire. "You get Jesse, I get Ross?" Claire nods and the two spring into action. Amberlyn runs viciously at Ross with her hatchet raised. Claire pulls out a baton, and just as Ross is about to fire his gun, she chucks the baton, hitting Ross hard in the head, causing him to drop the firearm. Jesse whacks Claire in the leg with his own baton, but before she falls, she digs her nails into Jesse's arm and drags him down along with her with her other hand. Amberlyn raises her own gun to fire, but Ross punches her in the stomach hard and wrenches the gun from her grasp, throwing it off into the woods. Jesse lands a punch against Claire's cheek, but she retaliates by slashing his arms with her knife. He screams in pain. Ross pushes Amberlyn roughly to the ground and leaps for his gun. Claire and Jesse cease their fight and turn towards the other two when Claire hears two extremely loud gunshots.

Amberlyn looks down slowly at her stomach, placing her hands over where she was shot. Blood is running over her hands. "No!" Claire screeches, detaching herself from Jesse and running at Ross. Knife raised, she catches Ross by surprise and stabs him three times in the stomach, until she finally kicks him to the ground.

"Ross!" Jesse shouts, doing the same as Claire and running for his companion. Claire

catches Amberlyn as she starts to fall to the ground. Jesse elevates Ross's head and lays it on his lap.

"A-am I going to d-die?" Amberlyn asks shakily. When Claire hesitates, the wounded girl begins to cry. "Claire, I d-don't want to die."

"Don't worry," Claire answers, fighting back sobs. "It's going to be fine. We're going to patch you right up and get back to fighting all of these weaklings." Amberlyn chuckles weakly.

"Jesse, you can't stop now," Ross commands. Despite his injuries, his voice is strong.

"I'm not going to." Despite his best efforts, a single tear rolls down Jesse face and lands on Ross's hand.

"Stay on your toes, okay? Don't let them catch you off your guard. You could win this thing." Jesse nods, afraid that speaking will send him into a sobbing fit. A canon sounds off.

"No! No, no, no!" Claire screams, shaking the deceased Amberlyn violently. "I need you, okay? I can't go through all of this alone!" Ross's eyes flutter shut as a second canon fire. Jesse gasps for breath, still fighting the sobs.

"I'm going to miss you, man." Jesse stands, laying Ross's head down on the earth.

"Good luck," he says to Claire, wiping away his tears in the rain. The girl watches as Jesse leaves the clearing the same way he came, dodging the traps. Claire steps away from her fallen companion, trying not to fall apart.

**Brian**

Before Erin could deliver the final blow, Brian kicked her off of him. They continued to thrown blows and slashes, but no one is getting ahead of the other. Brian takes his baton and flings it at Erin, expertly hitting her hand and knocking the knife away with a sickening crack. An unbearable pain shoots up from her hand and all the way up her arm. With her able hand, Erin reaches down and picks up the branch. She swings it and manages to hit Brian with a blow to the head. He falls to the ground, not yet out cold. Not bothering to get back on his feet, he crawls quickly at Erin, pulling her feet out from under her and forcing her to fall on her back. He digs his knee into her stomach, prepared to punch her forcefully, but she rakes her nails across his face, pushing him away and this time jumping on top of him. As fast as she can, she repetitively scratches Brian's face and arms, drawing blood and forming several deep scratches. She stops the scratching and wraps her hands around his throat, trying her best to squeeze the life out of him. He struggles at first, but soon begins running out of oxygen and his arms fall limp beside him.

Just when Erin thinks she is home free, a golden trident pierces abdomen. The trident is pulled away and a foot kicks Erin's quickly dying body off of Brian. The nearly dead boy's vision begins to clear as he gasps for air. He looks up to see his allies standing over him. "We heard the screams and hurried as fast as we could," Conner explains, lowering the trident.

"Are you okay?" Nikki demands, concerned as she leans down next to Brian.

"F-fine. Thank y-you." A canon fires, signaling Erin's death.

"Welcome to the top 5, kids," Conner says as him and Nikki help Brian to his feet. The three of them walk back to their campsite and Nikki dresses Brian's wounds as best she can. Nothing was too severe. He is just very tired out from the fight. The three eat dinner as they watch the sun go down. Three faces shine in the sky, Ross's, Amberlyn's and, of course, Erin's. Brian breathes slowly for a moment, now fully realizing that Erin's face was almost his.

_**Author's Note: Here's a quick congratulations to our Top 5!:**_

_**- District 1's Jesse Klapheke**_

_**- District 4's Conner Hutchison**_

_**-District 8's Brian Davis and Nikki True**_

_**- District 12's Claire Morgan-Sanders**_


End file.
